County Issue / Laws on Retrofitting...

Bill Crouch, Structural engineer in private practice in Santa Paula

I am in favor of bringing buildings up to earthquake standards. The state has an accepted code book defining what those standards are. It is an issue of public safety. But I also have sympathy for property owners and their financial difficulty in doing the retrofitting. The two aspects have to be weighed one against the other. Santa Paula has a voluntary ordinance. It has worked to a certain extent. I think most people are waiting until they are pushed by the state or some other authority before they do the work. It is a complex and highly emotional problem. But buildings that have been retrofitted have taken a big step toward public safety. They will be able to withstand an earthquake much better than those that haven’t.

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Nina Shelley, Ojai city councilwoman

I am a strong advocate of retrofitting buildings that are used by the public. It is the responsible thing to do from a safety standpoint, and business owners can incur liability if something serious happens to their customers. We should always have the highest regard for human safety. It is a very hard time to ask property owners to retrofit their buildings. Fortunately for us in Ojai, we were able to retrofit the arcade, our shopping district, where people walk all the time. I think even though we are in a recession that everything possible should be done to retrofit buildings. That includes covered walkways and un-reinforced masonry buildings. Ojai has completed retrofitting the arcade and it suffered very little damage from the earthquake. I think other cities that are qualified for redevelopment funds might consider using them to shore up old buildings.

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Virginia Gould, Owner of un - reinforced masonry building on East Main Street in Ventura

There is not enough evidence that retrofitting will do any good. They haven’t proven in Los Angeles that the buildings that were retrofitted saved lives. The buildings that were retrofitted may have stayed up anyway. Most surveys show that shoddy workmanship is at fault in most building collapses, whether they are built of bricks or not. I own one building in downtown Ventura, and the city passed a law to strengthen and attach parapets. I have not done mine yet. I am hesitating because I have 44 attachments to make. It’s relatively expensive, and why spend money on something you don’t feel is going to work? But I will comply with the law. I just think that the city’s priority is wrong. I have been begging them to implement an educational program so that people are better prepared for earthquakes. But they haven’t listened.

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Roger Campbell, Mayor pro tem of Fillmore. (His home was destroyed by the Northridge quake, but his mechanic business was unharmed.)

Local government should not only enforce the codes but do everything it can through redevelopment agencies to help finance the costs of doing the work. I don’t think passing a law and then not giving businesses a way to do it financially is the right thing to do. In Fillmore, we’re lucky because we’ve got the Small Business Assn. They will be able to provide low-interest loans for businesses and that will make retrofitting affordable. But I want to take that one step further and use our redevelopment agency money to bring the cost down even further. I will be pushing for that in the next month or two. I’m not saying we have enough to totally finance the rebuilding--we don’t. I’m saying we have enough to help write down the cost of the rebuilding loans so that it is easier for businesses to bear.

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R.C. Harmonson, Owner of two buildings in downtown Fillmore that were severely damaged by the earthquake.

I am planning to rebuild, but I don’t know how we can rent our buildings and pay for retrofitting at the same time. I’m hoping that the city can come up with some numbers that will allow us to rebuild the buildings and afford to keep operating. I would prefer to retrofit the buildings so that they are earthquake-proof in the future. My buildings are made of un-reinforced brick, which is the way they built them back in 1906. In the earthquake, we had so much damage that my buildings were red-tagged by the inspectors. It’s going to be awfully hard on us to do to pay for retrofitting. We don’t get enough return on our property to spend a lot of money on them. It’s not a high-rent deal. If the city wants to keep us in business, I think we’re going to have to have some help financially in getting these buildings retrofitted. I’m hoping FEMA or the SBA will go along on that.